NEWPORT council has taken its first step towards setting up a £50million property investment fund in a bid to become more commercially minded.

Cabinet members have given their support to developing a commercialisation strategy as the authority looks to find new ways of making money to provide services.

An investment board, made up of senior councillors and officers, will be set up to oversee commercial activity under the plans.

Chief executive Will Godfrey said the plan will enable the council to invest in property, as other local authorities such as Monmouthshire have done in recent months with the purchase of Newport Leisure Park.

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Newport Leisure Park

"In the last two months two authorities have purchased commercial properties in the city," Mr Godfrey told councillors.

"At the moment there is no mechanism to even consider those opportunities were they to come along so we need a mechanism.

"Once we have done the due diligence this will give us the mechanism to do that."

Council leader, Cllr Debbie Wilcox, said the strategy will help the authority meet an increasing demand for services.

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The council has overseen budget cuts of £45 million in the last five years amid growing demand for social care.

"If we do not adopt a more commercial approach then we are going to have to cut more jobs and more services," Cllr Wilcox said.

Aside from property, the council will consider providing other services, such as energy and trade waste, on a more commercial basis.

A trading company through which commercial activities are managed could also be set up, subject to a £100,000 feasibility study.

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Cllr Paul Cockeram gave assurances that the authority's activity would be regulated by several bodies, adding the council was "going into this with our eyes open."

Deputy council leader, Cllr Mark Whitcutt, said the move represented a "natural evolution" of the authority's approach in trying to find new ways of providing services amid shrinking budgets.

The plans to diversify have also been welcomed by the leader of the Conservative group, Cllr Matthew Evans, who said: "It’s long overdue, and I’ve been saying for a long time that rather than putting council tax up they should be generating income."

Councillors agreed an outline approach to setting up the new strategy at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, with the plans now set to be further developed over the coming months.